The March Mad Movie Madness elimination tournament heats up for real! This round will take 32 survivors—better than the top 10% of the original field of 366—and whittle it down to the Strange Sixteen.
Some matches of interest: the classic anime Akirafaces the only short left in the field, Un Chien Andalou. Possession vs. Pink Flamingos is the high art/low art clash of the round. And we predict the winner of the Mulholland Drive/The Lobsterheavyweight bout can do some real damage in the rest of the tournament.
You can see the results and progress of the tournament here: https://challonge.com/tsut4018 (note that this link is just for viewing results. You must vote using the forms below.)
You may vote once every 24 hours. This round closes at midnight, EST Apr. 3. (We know the March tourney is going well into April, but we like alliteration too much).
The Burial of Kojo (2019): A Ghanaian girl recalls her childhood, focusing on a conflict between her father and uncle. Visually experimental magical realism that’s making an awards-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles this week; the rest of his will likely have to catch it when it debuts on Netflix on the 31st of March. The Burial of Kojo official site.
Sister Tempest (est. 2019): The next project from Joe Badon (confessed 366 fan) describes itself as Mulholland Drive meets The Holy Mountain meets Zardoz (!) It’s the story of an art teacher who’s abducted by aliens and forced to confront her relationship with her sister (who’s also mysteriously missing). There’s also a giant astronaut stomping around. The producers are looking for $25,000 and have raised at this writing a little over $7,000. (Badon made TheGod Inside My Ear for under $10,000). Check out the Kickstarter for rewards.
NEW ON HOME VIDEO:
Against the Clock (2019): A CIA agent in a coma dreams while his wife fights with the agency to learn the truth. Among the one-star audience reviews, one simply titled “So so so bad and weird” caught our eye, and further investigation suggests this might be a bona fide strange film. Buy Against the Clock.
MFKZ (2017): In the urban dystopia of “Dead Meat City,” meek Angelino and his roommate (a flaming skull) uncover a conspiracy that brings them into contact with tentacled aliens and a secret society of luchadores. This gritty and absurd adaptation of a French graphic novel has an anime-meets-postmodern-hip-hop-wannabe-underground-comic feel; now on DVD, Blu-ray, limited VOD platforms. Buy MFKZ.
Perfect Blue (1997): Read the Canonically Weird entry! Shout! Factory’s new edition of Satoshi Kon‘s animated psychological thriller about a J-pop idol losing her sense of self is newly remastered for HD and comes with a few new featurettes (lectures by the late Kon and new interviews from others) along with some extras recycled from previous editions. In a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack (we gather the DVD hosts an SD version of the film). Buy Perfect Blue.
The Best Psychedelic Movies Ever Made – Cinema Dailies compiled a meta-list of movies considered “psychedelic,” using us as one of the input sources. Obviously, you are going to see a good number of familiar titles pop up. Light up a “J” (IF IT IS LEGAL IN YOUR JURISDICTION!) and pop on over to check it out.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Next week we continue our March Mad Movie Madness tournament (yes, we know we’ll be out of March) with the announcement of the round of 32 and the official Strange Sixteen. We’ll also announce a giveaway contest to disgorge a few of the promotional DVDs we’ve got lying around. And we’re hoping to have another exciting administrative announcement very soon…
In terms of new reviews, we will have something, but we’re not going to say exactly what just yet (this is getting to be a trend, we know).
The big news will be the return of cranky Alfred Eaker, who’s back to these pages after a long post-#366 sabbatical. Welcome back Al! Onward and weirdward!
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.
The March Mad Movie Madness elimination tournament goes into high gear as we enter the round of 64: 32 films will advance towards their goal of being named 366 readers’ favorite weird movie, and 32 will finish as also-rans.
There will be hard choices, but remember: the losers in this round will still easily finish in the top 100 of all the 366 Canonically Weird movies. Not bad.
In terms of drama, this round is highlighted by a Miyazaki v. Miyazaki knockout match (actually, even though Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away were both highly seeded, we’re a little surprised that neither were upset in the two preceding rounds). We predict that the most hotly contested matchups this round will be Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas vs. Suspiria and Brazil vs. Mulholland Drive: will Terry Gilliam be able to get a movie into the round of 32?
You can see the results and progress of the tournament here: https://challonge.com/tsut4018 (note that this link is just for viewing results. You must vote using the forms below.)
You may vote once every 24 hours. This round closes at midnight, EST March 29.
Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs and Blu-rays (and hot off the server VODs), and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available at the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Out of Blue (2018): A female cop investigating the death of an astrophysicist gets sucked into a mindbending quantum mystery. Early notices have been mixed, but the L.A. Times‘ Justin Chang praised its “low-key Lynchian weirdness.” Out of Blue official site.
WHAT’S IN THE PIPELINE: Next week we’ll enter the round of 64 of our March Mad Movie Madness tournament (as of this writing, there’s still time to vote in part 1 and part 2 of the round of 128).
We will also have two or three reviews, but we’re keeping the titles secret for now (because we’re not quite sure what will be ready).
Onward and weirdward!
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.
You can see the results and progress of the tournament here: https://challonge.com/tsut4018 (note that this link is just for viewing results. You must vote using the forms below.)
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